Wisol to sell subsidiary Wimas
Likely due to low synergy with Daeduk affiliates
Radio frequency component maker Wisol is selling its subsidiary Wimas, TheElec confirmed Wednesday.
Wisol, an affiliate of Daeduck business group, owns an 80% stake in material maker Wimas. It is selling the subsidiary for an unspecified amount, but it is thought be in the billions of wons.
The decision was likely made as Daeduck’s mainstay is printed circuit boards (PCB), which has little synergy with Wimas, people familiar with the matter said.
Wimas offers materials such as photoacid generator used to make photoresist, which. in turn, is used in the production of large integration semiconductors.
Parent company Wisol’s radio frequency component, in contrast, goes well with Daeduck’s PCB for semiconductors and telecommunication.
Wimas has also suffered from poor performances in recent years. After being acquired by Wisol in 2014, it has accumulated losses of 4 billion as of last year. It also has a debt of 10 billion won as of last year.
The decision to sell Wimas is part of Daeduck group’s recent restructuring efforts. Last year, the group merged Daeduck Electronics with Daeduck GDS.
Daeduck Electronics, meanwhile, ended its production of high density interconnection (HDI) boards in April. That month, Daeduck also divided the company into Daeduck and Daeduck Electronics.
Last year, Wisol also sold its Internet of Things operations to Seong Ji Industrial for 19.8 billion won.
Wisol’s maintay is surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters, used in handset antenna to allow only designated frequencies to pass through. More filters are used for 5G compared to 4G due to the increase in the number of frequencies used in networks.
The company is expected to garner sales for bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters starting in the second half of this year due to demand from 5G. BAW filters are better at filtering ultra high frequencies compared to SAW and can be made smaller. Its average sales price is also three to four times higher.
Wisol posted 39.9 billion won in operating profit and 370.3 billion won in sales last year, a decline of 27.1% and rise of 1.1%, respectively, from 2018.